And she got in front of the Christmas tree and she's opening
that gift and she says, uh oh, Santa got it wrong.
Oh, no, Santa got it wrong. Didn't get it right.
Hopefully you didn't have that kind of experience.
You know, one of the challenges that we have today is trying to
decide what's real and what's not.
Is this AI slop or is it really true?
We, we, we, the younger ones, they know about this, right?
I'm getting big smiles on this issue.
And but it's not really a new issue of what is real, what is
not, what can be trusted, what cannot.
Where can I find true life? Or is this a false life?
Because in that move of finding what is true requires trust.
And in that move of finding what is trust, we find that we use
both our mind and we use faith. In fact, faith becomes a way of
knowing. It's not always been recognized
that faith is a way of knowing. In fact, sometimes we play those
off and coming out of World War Two people in North America,
we're struggling with what what is real and what is true, What
is can be trusted and what cannot?
And where Can I have my great ideals?
Or should I just give them up and live only for myself?
So one of those great movies of Christmas is Miracle on 34th St.
Did anybody watch it this year? How many of you have never
watched a Miracle on 34th St. Oh I'm so sorry.
I'll try not to ruin the movie. It's an old movie, comes about
from 1947. There was a remake of it.
But in 1947, the the question of the movie, which became a stand
in for the crisis of faith that was happening all across the
world coming out of World War 2, was is Kris Kringle real?
That's the other word for Santa Claus.
And it became a stand in for is God real?
Is love and kindness and joy and goodness in the life and heart
of God? Is that real?
And is it something to which I might commit my life?
Is it someone to which I might commit my life?
And so the conversation as you watch Miracle on 34th St. about
Kris Kringle is actually about a larger problem of my life with
God. Lois or Doris, who is one of the
main characters in the film who is resistant to the idea of God,
who's resistant for sure to Kris Kringle.
And she says faith is believing in things when common sense
tells you not to. Do you believe that Faith is
believing in things when common sense tells you not to?
Her friend and the lawyer who later defends Kris Kringle to
say he's real. Fred says, well, Faith.
Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to.
Don't you see? It's not just Chris that's on
trial. It's everything he stands for.
It's kindness and joy and love and all the other intangibles.
Look, Doris, someday, someday you're going to have to find a
way, and you're going to find that your way is not enough in
this realistic world. It just doesn't work.
And when you do, don't overlook those lovely intangibles.
You'll discover they're the only things that are worthwhile.
Lovejoy Kindness, we come to them actually by both being
rational and having faith. And it's the same move,
actually, of being rational and having faith that brings us into
relationship with God and actually creates a Christmas
miracle. Our text today reflects a
Christmas miracle. It's the same text we read last
week. Maybe you memorized verse 14.
No different one, the Word became flesh.
We'll get there, but today we're going to focus on some other
verses, so follow along. As I read our text, in the
beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word
was God. He was with God in the
beginning. Through Him all things were
made. Without Him nothing was made
that has been made. In Him was life, and that life
was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the
darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that
through Him all might believe He himself was not the light.
He came only as a witness to the light.
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the
world. He was in the world, and though
the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive
Him. Yet to all who did receive Him,
to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to
become children of God, children born not of natural descent, nor
of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.
We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son
who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John testified concerning Him. He cried out, saying, This is
the one, This is the one I spoke about when I said He who comes
after me has surpassed me because He was before me out of
His fullness. We have all received grace in
place of grace already given, for the Law was given through
Moses. Grace and truth come through
Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but
the one and only Son who is Himself God and is in closest
with relationship with the Father has made Him known.
John presents Jesus here as the true light, the one who
enlightens people to encounter and know God.
A true light. There are moments when I get up
in the middle of the night and I'm so grateful for that red
light that shines from my clock. For though I know my room and
should be able to walk it with my eyes closed, I still bang
into things, except for that light that guides me across the
room. And even in the darkest dark, a
little bit of light goes a long way.
Jesus is described here by John as the true light.
He says the true light that gives light to everyone was
coming into the world. He's describing the incarnation
and the arrival of Jesus, born of Mary.
And this is the way John tells the Christmas story, that the
Word of God became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
But this word is a light to us. Not only that, He's revealing to
us that the light is shining in the darkness because there is a
very real spiritual conflict about knowing God.
There's a very real, real world issue with knowing God, and it
requires both rationality and faith.
He says this about Jesus. Jesus was in the world, and
though the world was made through him, the world did not
recognize him. He came to do that which was his
own, but his own did not receive him.
Unrecognized, unreceived. Have you ever gone to a reunion,
A high school reunion? Not yet, right?
Not yet. Haven't been to a high school
reunion yet. Haven't graduated yet.
I went to a high school reunion and everyone recognized me.
They're like, oh wow, Craig, it looks like you you haven't
changed. I had one come I remember seeing
you, but I don't remember your name different problem, right?
But here's Jesus arriving and they say he was unrecognized by
his own, that many and the people of Israel in the
neighborhoods of Israel did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah,
as the one who was God, as the one who had come for them.
They did not recognize him. In fact, there were many who
were drawn close to him but didn't receive him.
This is the real world spiritual conflict.
This is the strange thing that on the day after Christmas, it's
Saint Stephen's feast day. I know you thought it was Boxing
Day, a day for either hanging out with family or boxing up
your leftovers or going and get something else because there's
great cells. But it's Saint Stephen's feast
day, Stephen the Martyr. And so the day after Christmas,
in the history of the church and the calendar of the church, we
now recall Christ is born. But there's a real world
spiritual conflict. To believe or not to believe, to
both recognize him for who he is and then to receive him.
Now, this is the real world spiritual conflict that
continues. For those who are unfamiliar
with an artist, here he is. His name is Rembrandt.
He painted a lot of self portraits.
In fact, one of the things that you should be able to do as an
artist, right Aiden, is to draw a picture of yourself.
I've never been able to do this. Well, it's unrecognizable, and I
would not want to receive it as mine, as a likeness of me.
But Rembrandt was an amazing artist in the 1600s.
In fact, he was recognized as a child prodigy.
People recognized him as a great artist when he was very, very
young. Now these two pictures of
himself are only 20 years apart. The young man at 34, the older
man at 54. While how he had aged hard
right. In those short 20 years,
Rembrandt experienced series after series of tragedies and
losses. His wife died, Three of his
children died. Through his wild living and and
bad decisions, he bankrupted himself and he had an enormous
loss of reputation as an older artist.
Some were leaving him behind and saying, oh, he's a husband.
Which would you have preferred to know, the younger Rembrandt
or the older Rembrandt? On the way to becoming this man,
he truly met Jesus, and so he became known as the artist of
light because of the way he could use light in a picture.
I mean, even these two are, what's the word, Aiden?
Magnificent. 20 years. So let's see how he pictured
Jesus. I'll let you settle in on this
picture of Jesus being born and the shepherds coming to adore
him. It's called the adoration of the
shepherds, or the shepherds come to worship Jesus.
You'll notice that Jesus is in the Manger, but this building,
this barn has become almost a cathedral as your eyes lift up
to see, well, where is it going? And then you find this light.
It's not coming from up above, but the light itself is coming
from Christ, the child. He's portraying the word of
John, the true light that was the light of all was there.
You see the shepherds coming before Jesus, drawn in like
moths from the dark. They received the invitation
that we read earlier, the invitation to come and see the
child lying in a Manger who was for them the Messiah, joy for
them. And so they're drawn in.
Every line in the picture draws us back to look at Jesus.
This is the work of Rembrandt. After he had lost, after he had
lost his wife, lost his children, lost his money, lost
his reputation, and do you think he saw Jesus?
Did you think he recognized Jesus as his greatest treasure?
Do you think he received Jesus as his greatest treasure?
Look in a little closer. The shepherds seem a little
awkward, don't they? Not sure what to do with their
hands, sort of out there in the open.
What to do? Do I put them together, do I
not? You know, the beautiful thing
about this is that Rembrandt knew what to do with his hands,
but he was always very purposeful in his art with the
hands, one of the most difficult things to draw.
I've watched Aiden sit in a boring moment just drawing
hands, just working at it. If you've never tried to draw
your own face, try to draw your own hand.
It's really difficult. But it seems like Rembrandt had
a theology of hands to just say the hands communicate something
about our relationship to God drawn to Jesus.
For those who are drawn to Jesus, Jesus gives a very
special authority. This may seem strange, very
strange word for all those who are drawn to Jesus, who
recognize him as the true light, who recognize him as the Word,
who recognize him as the Son of God, For all who are drawn to
Jesus and receive him, He gives a very special authority.
Notice this is how we read it in English.
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in His
name, He gave the right to become children of God.
The right. This is the word authority.
He gave the authority to be children of God.
He gave the right to become children of God.
What an extraordinary statement. In fact, this is the
preferential option at Christmas to receive Jesus and become a
child of God. This is the greatest gift.
Notice it says He gave authority.
He gave the right. And so if you have received
Jesus as Lord, if you've received Jesus as the one who
forgives sin, you have a right, You have an authority to
approach him as his child, to approach God as a child simply,
honestly. Expecting an open welcome.
Do you know a child who's comfortable in their home, who
can be both authentic and attached, are really
comfortable? Have you ever gone to someone's
home and, and you watch the children there and you think,
oh, the children are really nervous?
Is it because of me or is it because of their parents?
Why are they nervous? What's going on?
And then you go to another place and you find the children are so
at ease and they're ease, at ease with themselves.
They're at ease and approaching their parents and they're at
ease with you, the guest in the house.
They are at home, and to be a child of God is to be at home
with God. Getting past this difficulty is
truly a miracle. That's why John says, look,
these children are born not of natural descent.
In other words, your legacy and heritage of your race does not
deliver. Your family position does not
deliver. Whether rich or poor, educated
or not does not matter because this is not a human decision or
a husband's will. It is the work of God again, the
creative work of God to make you have new life.
Later in John this would be discussed in John chapter 3 as
being born again and of the greatest gift that Aiden
naturally went to quote earlier. John 316.
Have you been born of God? I believe many of us have been
born of God, but are you at home with God?
Are you at home with Jesus and yourself each and every day?
As we move towards 2026, my prayer is that you would
actually be at home with Jesus, that you would become born
again, receive this great gift, but you would be at home with
Jesus and yourself. There's a fantastic quote from
Henry Nowen who wrote about his experience of Rembrandt and
another one of his paintings that I want to show you.
But Nowen says this. He says Jesus says anyone who
loves me will keep my word and my Father will love him and we
shall come to him and make our home, make our home in him.
These words have always impressed me deeply.
I am God's home. Wow, Henry Allen has such a way
with words. But he says it has always been
very hard to experience the truth of these words.
Yes, God dwells in my innermost being, but how could I accept
Jesus's call? Make your home in me as I make
mine in you. The invitation is clear and
unambiguous. To make my home where God made
his. This the great spiritual
challenge. It seems an impossible task.
When would I be ready to accept that kind of love?
With acceptance comes immense surrender, and sometimes this
only comes when we find some kind of bottom, some kind of
rock bottom. As Fred and Miracle on 34th St.
said to Doris, you're going to find a day where your way
doesn't work. You're going to need someone
else, something else. Rembrandt also discovered that
this is another picture by Rembrandt.
The the original painting of this is 8 feet by 6 feet.
It's big, it's a humongous painting.
It sits in the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg in Russia, used
to be Soviet Union. And it's the return of the
prodigal son. You can see he has one foot free
of a shoe. His shoes, his clothes are in
tatters and he's been received by the father who has his hands
there just blessing him, receiving him.
You can see the older brother who's looking down in disgust.
You can see the others who are watching.
The Return of the Prodigal Son has been a painting that has
fascinated me for years. And I was truly blessed by
Nowen's book where he accounted his own life, the life of
Rembrandt, and the story of the Prodigal Son.
And you can see the light again drawing.
And the father that Jesus reveals has his hands there on
the younger son who's returned empty handed, who's returned
saying make me a slave in your own house and I'll work for your
pleasure. And the Father refuses that way.
You see, Jesus is the miracle that's been born, but the
Christmas miracle is that Jesus would be born in you and that
you would accept this kind of love.
Look closely at the two hands. I don't know if you can see them
close enough. The two hands of the Father, one
hand seems very gentle and and small, and the other hand seems
very rough and large. And those who've observed the
paintings as one hand is like a woman's hand and the other hand
like a man, a laborer's hand. And he's trying to convey
something about the truth and the grace of God that we see in
Christ Jesus, that we also should experience in God, that
we would be accepted in saying, hey, don't work for my pleasure,
just receive it. Don't worry about all the things
you've lost. Let me give to you.
Don't worry about all the things you want to attain.
Older brother who's watching, Just be at home with the Father.
This is the invitation and it is the Christmas miracle.
It is a miracle to be able to ask like a child with the
authority of a child. It is a miracle to be able to
seek what we want to know about with the honesty of a child.
It is a miracle to approach God knocking, trying to get
something, a door opened in life with the authority of a child,
just believing somebody's going to open that door for me.
Surely God will do it. Christmas is God making his home
in creation, but the miracle of Christmas is God making his home
in you and you making your home in God.
The Christmas miracle continues when we receive and believe
Jesus daily. Now when described that
struggle, he says I am called to enter the inner sanctuary of my
own being where God has chosen to dwell, and the only way to
that place is prayer. Many struggles and much pain may
clear the way, but I am certain that only unceasing prayer will
let me enter in. What is your prayer for 2026?
I've heard some people say I want to have Christmas every
day. I want to get, get, get.
But what about the flip side? Don't you want to give, give,
give? I hope that your prayer coming
out of Christmas would be that Jesus would be at home in your
heart and that you would be at home with Jesus and his great
love for you. It will change everything.
Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we set our
lives before you, and as we contemplate this Jesus who was
born, we pray that he might be born in our hearts.
And you come, Holy Spirit, come in a moment we will receive the
the bread and the cup that remind us of the great gift of
Jesus, that he came in the flesh in a cradle, but his destiny was
a cross. And so he shed his blood to make
a new promise to everyone and to you, so that all who recognize
him as Lord and receive him as Lord become children of God.